International Desk

09 December 2017, 23:41

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BD to be include in counter terrorism conversation: US

International Desk

09 December 2017, 23:41

Special correspondent from Washington, July 9 (Just News) : Sarah Sewall, US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights has said that, US welcome Bangladesh’s engagement in broader conversation about both the role of state action to counter terrorism as an area that needs to be closely looked at for second and third-order consequences apropos of the earlier discussion that we were just having.

She made this remark Wednesday at Washington Foreign Press Center in a Roundtable meeting titling ‘Update on White House Summit to Counter Violent Extremism Follow-On Process’. Just News editor Mushfiqul Fazal Ansari took part in the question-answer round of the briefing through video conference from New York Foreign Press Center. Voice of America journalist Selim was also present in the briefing.

Sarah Sewall said, we welcome Bangladesh in terms of thinking about the extent to which violence which comes from extremist ideologies but may not be recognized as terrorism by all concerned or as a legal matter can nonetheless rip apart the fabric of society and make people extremely vulnerable and exploit grievances that may be politically based rather than ethnically based.

‘So I think this – I think that Bangladesh is an interesting example of a country that will be – that can benefit from engagement in this broader discussion about how to prevent violent extremism from penetrating societies. I think for many countries the preventive work has a wonderful overlap between essentially development and community strengthening and creating more stable and secure communities and therefore countries. And so I would hope that the government would welcome it in that regard’ she added.

In a query how to find a best possible way to bring all Islamic country, Muslim-majority country under one umbrella to protest IS activities, US Under Secretary of State said that, I think it’s not the place of the United States to suggest how different communities of nations self-defined can best address particular threats that they face in common. What we are trying to do is to galvanize a global conversation about violent extremism that has many forms and suggest that there are common principles and approaches that can be useful.

‘We also believe strongly that this is an issue in which the elevation of moderate voices – whether they are of a religious nature or whether they are of an ethnic identity, whether they reflect some other cleavage that might be at issue in the context of extremist rhetoric – is critically important. And so different communities and different regions of the world that are at risk will respond in different ways, but we think there are some commonalities that can be promoted’, she added.

US Under Secretary said that, It’s part of why I think we are really heartened that the UN secretary-general will be takgin on these prevention aspects as he looks at the agenda of the United Nations and at responsibilities of member states. But the particular ways that individual extremist threats can be addressed by communities of countries or non-government communities, such as these networks that we expect to see launched at the margins of the General Assembly, I think are all open for possibilities.